Setting up your timezones and posting schedules

Your connected social channels each have their own timezone and posting schedule. Every time you add to your posting schedule becomes a time slot in your queue. That way, when you schedule posts, you don't need to think about the date and time each one should be published, as each post will be added to the next available time slot.

In this article:

1. Adjusting your timezone universally
2. Adjusting your timezone
3. Setting up your posting schedule
   1. Setting up your posting schedule with posting goals
   2. Adding more time slots to match your posting goals
   3. Adjusting your posting schedule
4. Changing your time format
5. FAQ

Adjusting your timezone universally

Within your Preferences, you can select a universal timezone for any new channels. Once you set a timezone, any new channel you connect will be set to the timezone you choose.

If you've already connected a channel and want to adjust the timezone, jump down to the steps below.

To set a universal timezone:

1. Click on your profile avatar at the top right of your Buffer dashboard.
2. Choose Settings.
3. Click on Preferences on the left side of the page.
4. Click on the timezone that's listed and search for a city in your timezone and select it.

Adjusting your timezone by channel

If you prefer to have different timezone settings for each channel, you're able to configure the timezone for each of your connected social channels. This allows you to publish content at the most appropriate times for your audiences.

You can adjust the timezone and posting schedule for a specific social channel by navigating to the left-hand panel in your Publishing tab and clicking on your desired channel.

Click the settings wheel next to your channel's name and start typing the first few letters of the city you'd like to set it to in the Timezone field. Click the checkmark next to the city when it pops up and you should be all set!

Setting up your posting schedule

Setting up your posting schedule with posting goals

With posting goals, once you connect a channel to Buffer, you'll be able to set a goal for the number of times you'd like to post per week. You can select between 1x, 3x, and 5x per week. Once you've selected your goal, Buffer will populate your posting schedule for you.

For example, if you choose a goal of posting 5x per week, Buffer will create a posting schedule with five time slots across your posting schedule.

In the GIF below, a posting goal of 5x per week is set, so five time slots were created in the posting schedule:

If you'd like to adjust these times, you can take the steps below to make any edits necessary.

Adding more time slots to match your posting goals

If you have an existing posting schedule set up, and you select a posting goal that is higher than your current number of time slots, you'll see the option to Add Posting Times to Match Goal. By clicking this, we'll add some recommended times to your posting schedule to make sure it matches the posting goal you've set.

Adjusting your posting schedule

To add new times to your schedule, select the day or days you'd like to add the times to, as well as the time itself, and then click Add Posting Time.

Times can be adjusted by clicking on the hours or minutes drop downs and changing as desired. Times can also be deleted by hovering over the time and clicking the x icon.

Individual days can also be turned off by toggling the day to off. If a day is turned off, it means that no time slots will appear in your queue for that day, even if you have times configured in your schedule. However, any posts scheduled for a custom date and time will still be sent.

Changing your time format

To change your time format from a 12 hour clock to a 24 hour clock, click on your profile avatar at the top right of your Buffer dashboard and then select Preferences. From there, you can select the time format, and the day to start your week.

FAQ

Is there a way to hide time slots from the queue?

Yes, you can hide time slots from a channel's queue by clicking More in the upper right corner of the queue. From the dropdown menu, toggle Show Time Slots to OFF. If you change your mind, you can toggle Show Time Slots ON to make them re-appear, like this:

How are time slots in Buffer chosen for each channel?

• If you choose a posting goal, the time slots generated for you are based on our team's research on the best times to post across each social network.
• If you choose to skip a posting goal, we'll default to default number of posting times per week (14 time slots per week for all channels except X/Twitter and Pinterest, which get 28 slots per week) and generate time slots based on our best times to post research.